If the
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences were an elementary school
student, its report card would undoubtedly contain the teachers
well-worn phrase works well with others.

At an elevation
or 3,000+ feet, the Upper Mountain Research Station provides
a real-world lab for the study of subjects such as cold-hardiness
and fungal diseases. It represents an important partnership between
the College and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture
and Consumer Services.

The College has always worked with
other organizations, and these collaborations nearly always benefit
both parties. Yet forming partnerships and making them work is
increasingly important.

Joe Hampton can guarantee at least a few below-zero
temperatures each winter at the Upper Mountain Research Station.
In 52 years of recording station temperatures, Hampton, the station
superintendent, says the highest temperature recorded was 92;
the coldest was minus 26. Cold winters make the station the perfect
place to test plants for cold hardiness.

If
a new cultivar survives our winter, we can say with some assurance
it will be cold-hardy for the rest of the state, says Hampton.
The stations climate also makes it ideal for research on
fungal diseases such as blue mold in tobacco and gray leaf spot
in corn. Because it doesnt get hot and dry enough to kill
the fungi that cause these diseases, scientists are guaranteed
they can do experiments involving the diseases.

College researchers work at all of the
16 stations scattered across the state. Six are owned by North
Carolina State University; the other 10 by the NCDA&CS. They
represent every geographic and environmental condition in the
state.

Any discussion of research stations would
be incomplete without a mention of the Center
for Environmental Farming Systems at Goldsboro. A partnership
with the NCDA&CS and North Carolina A&T State University,
the center is reserved for research on sustainable and organic
farming.

These far-flung facilities are as different
and varied as North Carolina. Yet all are real-world laboratories
indispensable for scientists working to solve real-world problems.

It
seems likely that what Alexander Sandy Stewart is
learning about how to apply growth-regulating chemicals will
save cotton growers money.

Stewart is a masters student working
with Dr. Keith Edmisten, a crop scientist. He is experimenting
with a wick applicator that wipes, rather than sprays, chemicals
on cotton.

Growth regulators are applied to cotton
to limit plant height. But cotton plants are usually uneven in
height. Spraying the same amount of chemical on all the plants
means that while the growth of taller plants may be limited,
the growth of shorter plants will also be limited, an unintended
and unwelcome result. And some of the chemical invariably is
sprayed on the ground, where it does no good.

The wick applicator can be set to brush
chemicals above the shorter plants, where they are needed. Stewart
says growers may be able to cut chemical usage by one half to
one third. That would cut chemical costs considerably.

Stewarts work is made possible in
part by stipends from Cotton Inc. and the North Carolina Cotton
Promotion Association. The funding is but one result of partnerships
the College has formed with farmers organizations.

North Carolina is the third most agriculturally
diverse state in the nation, and virtually every commodity produced
in the state is represented by an organization. The College interacts
with all these groups, says Dr. George Kriz, associate director
of the North Carolina Agricultural Research Service. Kriz has
listed on his 1999
calendar103
meetings involving commodity groups and College faculty members.
The first meeting is Jan. 3; the last is Dec. 11.

Twenty-eight
commodity organizations support the College with funding ranging
from $2,500 to close to $300,000 annually. Perhaps just as important
as the funding is the two-way communication between the associations
and the College. By designating the projects their money is to
support, commodity groups provide insight into their needs and
concerns.

Its their choice which projects
get funded, Kriz says. This enables them to express
their priorities for research and extension.

At the same time, commodity organizations
serve as a conduit to help faculty to get information to farmers
and others quickly and efficiently.

For decades, rural communities have struggled
to meet wastewater treatment needs in ways that sustain growth
yet protect the environment. A new center in Brunswick County
is aimed at helping environmental engineers, home builders, septic
tank installers and others better understand the latest wastewater
treatment options.

According to Brunswick
County Extension Director Phil Ricks, the facility could
not have been built if not for a strong partnership among the
College and county, state and federal governments.

Cooperative Extension secured a U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency grant to fund the project. Building the facility
required the expertise and support of faculty members in soil
science and biological and agricultural engineering, Extension
Master Gardener volunteers, the N.C. Department of Environment
and Natural Resources, and several county agencies. The involvement
of three area county health departments was especially critical
in ensuring that the facility meets area needs, Ricks says.

Such
county government support has long been key to enabling Extension
to meet its educational mission. County governments provide for
county Extension centers and contribute to operating and personnel
budgets for the field faculty. Their appropriations complement
those from state and federal governments, particularly the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.

As a land-grant institution, along
with N.C. A&T State, we have a mandate to ensure that research
and teaching reach beyond our campus. We meet this mandate by
building partnerships like the one that made the Southeast Regional
On-Site Wastewater Training Center possible, says Dean
Oblinger. By providing cost-effective, hands-on training
with systems suitable for the regions soils, this partnership
benefits communities and businesses while protecting the environment.

For
more than 15 years, Dr. Charles Lytle has worked to help science
teachers spark their students interest and understanding.
The professor of zoology and head of Biology Outreach Programs
says his efforts spring from enlightened self-interest.

There are those whove been
content to say public schools arent doing a good job of
preparing students for college-level science and math. But I
think that the problem starts and ends with the university. We
can  and we are  making a difference in building
a network that enables teachers to be more effective in preparing
their students for what they will encounter here.

The College has, for example, provided
a training and support program for teachers in rural and economically
disadvantaged areas. Since its inception six years ago, the program
has been supported by the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute.

In September, the institute awarded a second
$1.4 million grant to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
and the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. The funds
will be used to enrich and broaden science education for seventh-
to 12th-graders and university undergraduates.

The grant enables Lytle and his colleagues
to build upon the strengths of N.C. State programs especially
the Biology Outreach Programs and The
Science House that reach more than 20,000 K-12 students
and teachers annually.

The Pre-College
Program will sponsor science and technology career conferences
for 2,000 seventh-graders and summer research programs for high
school student-teacher teams. It also will establish a Science
House satellite in a 10-county area of northeastern North Carolina.
The office, staffed by a master teacher, will provide teacher
training and computer and lab equipment loans.

In addition, Teaching With Research workshops
will show teachers the benefits of active classroom learning
and the potential of new technologies to facilitate such learning.

With
support from the first Hughes grant, Dena Bradham, a biology
teacher at Triton High School in Erwin, learned to use computer-based
technology to help students understand science concepts.

So often, the students would think
of science as something you sit in a classroom, take notes and
be tested on. Bradham says. The technology has made
a big difference in terms of my being able to show that science
is not that  that science is something you do.

As her students became more confident,
they became more eager to learn. Other teachers noticed and became
involved. They sought and obtained resources for a permanent
lab with computers, probes, digital balances, microscopes and
laser-disc players.

With teachers like Bradham changing the
way science is taught, Lytle is confident the Colleges
outreach programs are making a difference.

Their success and this grant from
the Hughes Institute demonstrate that N.C. State is well-established
not only as a research institution but also as a leader in developing
partnerships with schools.